Pressure-cooker valve



Oct. 30, 1934.

A. R. THOMPSON PRESSURE cooKER VALVE Y Filed Jan. 26, 1952 INVENTOR, I

/1 TTORNE YS,

' Mul Patented Oct. 30, 1934 N UNITED sTATssA PATENT OFFICE PRESSURE-000mm vALvE Application January 26, 1932, Serial No. 589,031

2 Claims. (Cl. 198-209) My'inventlon relates -to that part of the canning art which comprises the treatment of the commodity by passing the cans containing it through a region under pressure and at proper 5 temperature according to the purpose of the `treatment, as, for example, cooking or cooling.

Admission and delivery of the commodity carrying cans to and from such pressure region must be by means of fluid-tight feed and vdischarge l valves adapted to pass the cans into and out of the treating chamber without' loss of pressure.

In thisconnection it will be of advantage to refer to my former Patent No. 1,385,594, July 26th, 1921, reissued under No'. 15,334, April 11,

l 1922, which discloses certain fluid tight valvesas applied to a pressure cooker of the horizontal type, since my present invention lies in the.

adaptation of somewhat similar valves to a novel vertical pressure cooker, the details of which, and the method of its use, form the subject matter of a separate copending application Serial- No. 589,028, filed January 26, 1932, and to which reference may be made.

For the present case it will be sufficient, in

order to understand the general nature and objects of the improvement herein, to point out` that in a horizontal cooker such as disclosed in my former patent (supra), the fully sealed or closed cans are treated; and the pocket members 3o or turrets of the fluid-tight valves by which the cans are successively and timely passed into and out of the cooker chamber,. rotate in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis and serve recumbent cans. But such a plane of turret rotation is not possible in the vertical cooker of my copending application (supra) which is essentially adapted for treatment of open cans, which because of being open must bekept upright, and, therefore, the pocket members or turrets of the Huid-tight valves must be horizontal and rotate about a vertical axis.

Then, too, because of such plane of rotation, means must be employed in connection with such turrets for positively removing the cans from the turret pockets, since gravity cannot be utilized as hitherto. 4

It will now be seen in view'of the foregoing consideration that my invention herein has for its object not merely the positive pushing out of the cans from the pockets of the valve turrets but also that the valve thus altered in position shall have its entire packing assembly,l including the mounting of its can-ejector members, posi tively fluid tight within the housing,.and therefore that the tangible improvement herein lies in the special nature of the packed valves as will be hereinafter fully described.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown my improved -uid-tight valves in their preferred form, though it is to be understood that changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the claims hereunto appended.

Referring to the drawing:-

Fig. 1 is a plan view, broken, and sectioned in 65 part, of the valve.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2--2 of Fig. l.

The improved valves herein are primarily intended for association with a treating vessel under a pressure and at a temperature determined by the purpose of the treatment, especially such a treating vessel as is disclosed in my copending application above mentioned. Withthe special features of such treating vessel the present invention is not concerned. It may be said, however, that the treatment involves the subjection of the commodity in open cans to` the internal pressure and temperature of said vessel, the cans being introduced upright by the feed valve, passed through the vessel, and delivered upright by the discharge valve. As the treating vessel is under internal pressure, the valves must necessarily be fluid-tight to avoid loss of pressure in introducing `and delivering the cans. The two valves, namely the feed and the discharge valves are, in the main, similar, each comprising a housing 1 to be secured by a connection 2 to the treating vessel, and a horizontal turret 3 with peripheral pockets 4 mounted for rotation in the housing 1 about a vertical axis shaft 5, to which rotation is imparted by means not shown.

As the valve must be fluid-tight, it must be properly packed. For this purpose I prefer to employ a packing approximately similar to that shown in my previous patent above mentioned, as follcwsz-Fitted to a close seat in each side of the turret at its outer circumference is a packing ring 6 pressed to its seat by springs '7. The ring is severed or split at 8 and is of a springy nature, sov that it resiliently presses its circumference against the inner surface of the housing 1. The springs 7 are fitted in the housing and may have screw glands 9 to adiust their pressure on the packing ring 6. Thus the ring provides for a resilient side packing. To pack the rim of the turret there are slidably inserted in radial grooves 10 of the turret between the pockets 4, the packing plates 11 which are held out aga-inst the inner circumferential surface of the housing 1 by rearwardly lying springs 12, and as said plates are is not essentially different from my prior patent;

but as bearing upon the novelty in the present case the following is to be'noted:

As hereinbefore mentioned, and for the reason assigned, the cans must be kept upright throughout the entire treatment, including both their introduction to and removal from the treating region. For this reason the pocket turret of the valvemust be horizontal, as herein shown, but since in this position gravity cannot be relied on to remove the upright cans from the pockets, it is necessary to provide some positive means for this purpose and this is herein effected by means of an ejecting member which at proper times functions to push the cans out. In its present form this member is a relatively wide plate or finger 13. One of these lies on edge within each pocket 4 of the turret 3 and has a swinging movement transversely of the pocket, so that the can 14 upon entering a pocket comes into position to be subsequently pushed out by the swing of said plate.

' Each ejector plate 13 is fixed at its inner end upon a vertically disposed rock shaft 15, one end of which is mounted in a bearing at 16 in a closed boss 17 in the wall of the turret, but not through said wall, so that said bearing is tight against escape of pressure from the pocket. The other end of the shaft 15 passes entirely through the pocket wall in a washer protected bearing at 18, and has secured to it a crank arm 19, the other end of said arm carrying a roller 20 which travels in a cam groove 21 formed in the inner face of the housing 1 of the valve but not through said housing.

A spring 22 on the rock shaft l5 within the turret pocket, holds the adjacent faces of the crank arm 19 and the turret wall in close resilient contact and said faces are planed smooth for sliding contact, thus guarding in conjunction with the washer against the escape of fluid pressure through the shaft bearing 18.

The cam groove 21 has its eccentric portion in such position, as shown at 23, that the roller 20 in passing through it will rock the shaft 15 in proper time to operate the ejector plate 13.

They operation of the valve may now be briey described. The upright can enters the valve housing 1 and is received in a pocket 4 of its rotating turret 3, and is carried around to the position of discharge from the valve. Here it is positively pushed out from the turret pocket by the swinging of the ejector 13. By means of the packing described the valve is uid tight, and the entire packing assembly including the mounting of the ejector members lies hermetically sealed within the valve housing.

I claim:

1. A valve for pressure treating-chambers, comprising a housing: a rotatable turret therein having package receiving, transferring and delivering pockets; means for packing fluid tight the outer faces of the turret from the inner faces of the housing; ejectors within said pockets for removing said packages; rock shafts carrying said ejectors, one end of the shafts being stepped in the pocket wall and the other end passing through the pocket wall in a fluid tight bearing; and means within the housing associated with said last named shaft ends for rocking said shafts.

2. A valve for pressure treating-chambers, comprising a housing; a rotatable turret therein having package receiving, transferring and delivering pockets; means for packing fluid tight M0 the outer faces of the turret from the inner faces of the housing; ejectors within said pockets for removing said packages; rock shafts carrying said ejectors, one end of the shafts being stepped in the pocket wall and the other end passing through M5 the pocket wall in a washer tight bearing; a crank arm fitted to said last named end outside the pocket; a spring on the shaft for holding said arm in close contact with the outer face of the pocket; and means within the housing for op- E20 erating said crank arm.

ALBERT R. THOMSON. 

